London, We Love You

I think it is fair to say we are all feeling on edge right now. Try as we might, to heed the advice given and carry on as normal it is hard to not be affected and find yourself looking over your shoulder a little more. And you know what? It is ok for you to be worried, as we are too. It is human to see these terror attacks in locations you could have been in and think the worst, and worry it could happen to you. That is the point of terror attacks, to make us all feel scared to go about our daily life. Most of our staff commute into and work in London, as a facilities company based in the south-east of England this is unavoidable. But we must come together and not allow these monstrous individuals who inflicted their poison and hatred upon innocent bystanders to win. This is done by not allowing them to create the terror, distrust and fear that they so desire amongst us.

As much as I have already sat and dwelled upon all the awful acts that have occurred this year and the loss many households are faced with across both the UK and the world, I have had to force myself to instead concentrate on the positive. On the heroes and the stories of bravery that exist amongst the rubble. I can’t fathom the mindset of the people who would want to murder and inflict pain upon anyone, let alone target places such as concert arenas where it is known children will be. But I can look up to and be in awe of the people who when faced with these attacks reacted with great acts of bravery. So, I have decided today we will talk about them. Those courageous and selfless people who on the 3rd June 2017 at London Bridge Terror attack did what they could and were injured and killed in the pursuit of helping those around them.

Firstly, there was the 39-year-old Spaniard Ignacio Echeverría who saw what was happening at London Bridge and ran to the defence of a woman who was being attacked armed only with what he had to hand, his skateboard. While trying to save the life of this woman he lost his own. Then there was the Romanian chef Florin Morariu who saw what was happening and ran out of the bakery he was working in and hit one of the attackers over the head with a crate and then offered 20 people shelter. There was also a British transport police officer who on seeing the attack unfold ran to the scene and took on the attackers armed only with a baton. And the 25-year-old off-duty police officer Charlie Guenigault, who unarmed, ran towards the attackers and tackled one of them to the ground. Then there was Kirsty Boden, a nurse, who ran towards the victims of the attack to try and help those who were injured and was then attacked and killed in her pursuit to help. These are only a few select instances of the reported bravery that happened that day, but as you can see the great, the brave and the selfless much outweighs the heinous.

This is the message I want to take from these attacks, not that bad people exist that will do unthinkable things to innocent people. But that people, faced with this evil, will act in ways that are so brave it makes me want to do better and be better. London, we must stand united, and if we continue to refuse to give in to terror, and love each other and not allow ourselves to divide, the people who want to instil this fear in us through these unthinkable acts won’t win. We are British, we are Londoners, we are diverse and we will plod on.